All this while I was wondering what the secret was. Whether it was the politics that make people greedy or the profession has a greater affinity towards greedy people. That is not to say there are no genuine politicians, there are statesmen out there. Problem is the genuine ones keep reducing in number each passing election year.

So I’ve been wondering what the catch is really. Is it the GHS7000 (with upward adjustment), mouthwatering ex gratia, state protocol, GHS50, 000 tax free rent allowance or the car allowance. Perhaps the fact that they occupy the zenith of the social strata – exactly as one MP shamefully justified.

Stories are told of people (problem solvers, politician) who become all sentimental (I care for you), visionaries (free SHS), problem solvers (having solutions to all our economic and social problems), God fearing (The battle is the Lords), the people’s man. Not to mention others who visit their constituencies almost always until they win an election then the game plan changes.

Immediately these people win an election, there is a whole paradigm shift in their thinking and attitude. They become unreachable princes and princess staying in their uptown castles with 24/7 electricity whereas the masses enjoy ‘dumso dumso’ 24/7. Interestingly there are more fruits in their body and hair creams than there are on somebody’s breakfast plate. They suddenly realized they are lawmakers and not constituency developers. If they are in opposition every government project is bad. If they are in power then their brilliant ideas fizzle into thin air and they realized the country doesn’t have enough in its coffers to develop the country.

In all these though one thing is certain, they enjoy all the goodies that come with the office (e dey bee ke ke) and don’t give a damn about the ordinary man (grass root) who got them in there in the first place. Slowly they become unanimous in their strategies to steal the nation’s wealth and drive the people into hardship. Their game plan? One party comes to power steals and get kicked out, then another party comes in steals and then is also kicked out and it continues ad infinitum.

Collectively they are not interested in solving our problems permanently because if that happens they’ll be out of business. Therefore they focus on make shift bridges and intermediary solutions that will come crumbling in a short while so that the people will come back to them again cup in hand while they and their cronies enjoy all the wealth.

This by no means suggests that there aren’t any good/genuine politicians out there. That’ll be doing injustice to the many men and women who set out to bring us this far as a country. Indeed stories are told of people who have put their lives on the line for our dear country and I think such people must be sought after and celebrated. But their efforts are nothing if there is no collective effort to bring about the change we so much desire. This is only possible when the good men and women of the land stand up on their feet and contest for the high offices of the land unless of course these offices repel good people.

There are lots of Ghanaians who see through this gimmick or grand scheme or mockery of a democracy that our politicians practice in this country but unfortunately there are no alternatives to vote for. A word to the wise they say is enough.